This invention relates to photonic devices in general, and more particularly to lasers.
Lasers are well known in the art. A laser typically comprises a front mirror and a rear mirror which are disposed so as to establish a reflective cavity therebetween. An active, or gain, region is disposed between the front mirror and the rear mirror. The gain region is constructed so that when the gain region is appropriately stimulated, it will emit light. The rear mirror is typically substantially fully reflective at the lasing wavelength, and the front mirror is typically partially reflective at the lasing wavelength so as to allow a beam of laser light to be emitted therefrom.
As is well known in the art, the gain region may be stimulated by electrical current (xe2x80x9celectrically pumpedxe2x80x9d) or it may be stimulated by light (xe2x80x9coptically pumpedxe2x80x9d).
The present invention is directed to optically pumped lasers and, more particularly, to an improved optically pumped laser having a substantially constant power output.
The present invention comprises an improved optically pumped laser having increased efficiency.
In one form of the invention, there is provided a laser comprising: a front mirror and a rear mirror which are disposed so as to establish a reflective cavity therebetween; a gain region disposed between the front mirror and the rear mirror, the gain region being constructed so that when the gain region is appropriately stimulated by light from a pump laser, the gain region will emit light; and one of the front mirror and the rear mirror being positioned to admit pump light into the reflective cavity, the one of the front mirror and the rear mirror having a low and substantially constant reflectance over a pumping wavelength range and having a high and substantially constant reflectance over a lasing wavelength range.
In another form of the invention, there is provided a method of lasing, the method comprising: providing a laser comprising: a front mirror and a rear mirror which are disposed so as to establish a reflective cavity therebetween; a gain region disposed between the front mirror and the rear mirror, the gain region being constructed so that when the gain region is appropriately stimulated by light from a pump laser, the gain region will emit light; one of the front mirror and the rear mirror being positioned to admit pump light into the reflective cavity, the one of the front mirror and the rear mirror having a low and substantially constant reflectance over a pumping wavelength range and having a high and substantially constant reflectance over a lasing wavelength range; and providing pump light to the one of the front mirror and the rear mirror being positioned to admit pump light into the reflective cavity.
In still another form of the invention, there is provided a method of constructing a mirror for an optically pumped laser, the method comprising: selecting a reflectance profile for the mirror; querying a database to generate a mirror configuration comprising materials, thicknesses and number of mirror pairs so as to construct the mirror having the reflectance profile; and constructing the mirror based on the mirror configuration.